Foreward: I've for a long-time now fancied a 'non-famous' Deathwatch RPG, wherein all the players are from a chapter no-one's heard of. They might be one of the most famous Chapters of the Imperium day-to-day, but in the lore it's just they're unheard of.

As I also fancied a little Genestealer Cult army, the Deathwatch Overkill game struck me as a great option. (Also it's an easy to justify expense as it can be played with people who haven't got any investment in all this nonsense at all.)

So, using one of the great pieces of work over on Bolter & Chainsword (a list of Space Marine icons/shoulder pads from the DW Veterans kit that can also double as 'other Chapters' [e.g. the Raptor's Symbol is used by almost a dozen known chapters?]) and applying my own research and bits-boxing, I managed to make an entirely non-First Founding and barely-Second-Founding set of Deathwatch Space Marines, with only a single one that was wholly created by me (the Swords Imperial, and that's a repurposed Dark Angel veteran pad & pack, I think)!

So, there you go, here's a 'looking alright' stage of development for them. Certainly worthy of being played with now. Which means I also really need to get my bottom in gear and get working on the Cultists...

Anyway, without further ado:

Watch Station Bolthole, in Segmentum Tempestus, is a subcomponent of the Watcher Keep installation on the extremes of the Tempestus/Pacificus border surface. Locations of note under the Watcher Keep's auspices are the Grand Avenue of the Serpent, the Kaliarchon Combine, the Nervkor Dynasty and more than two dozen Imperial sectors on the exterior edge of the Imperium the rests beyond the conventional limits of the galactic disc.

Though remote, the density of Segmentum Pacificus and Tempestus means a great deal of traffic enters the realms served by the Watcher Keep. Watch Station Bolthole is formerly a Xenos asteroid chain which has been wholly repurposed for Imperial use. It is sited in the forbidden system Bertrand's Hearth, at the inner edge of the Horrubim Sector's Heartache Subsector.

Of Watcher Keep's two main Watch Stations (the other being Watch Station De Vaal, sited closer to the border surface and Watcher Keep itself), Watch Station Bolthole serves primarily as a transit point between the heavy duty actions conducted by the main fortress and information/personnel/materiel further into the heart of the Imperium. Moreover, it acts as a hub for patrols serving the Oreatufor Sector (across whose rim ward border the Heartache subsector is found) and its borders - specifically important due to the high number of seemingly natural warp gates and warp portals in uninhabited space pertaining to the Sector.

As of 816M41 (7), the Astartes inhabitants of Watch Station Bolthole are as follows:

Chaplain Samson GronbachSwords Imperial Chapter

Lexicanum Pix DraggorMortifcators Chapter

Watch Sergeant Moss el-GibranAngels of Vengeance Chapter

Brother Niss BextorStar Dragons Chapter

Brother Machur YusufuExemplars Chapter

Brother AtafetHawk Lords Chapter

Brother Jayaz TzinAngels of Fire Chapter

Brother Garrot BessedineEmperor's Hands Chapter

Brother Leonard HochmannSubjugators Chapter

Brother Arx SabrebullShadow Wolves Chapter

Brother Edmund BelzarAngels Encarmine Chapter

---

Killteam Bolthole: Ready to deploy!Purge the Xenos

"When my housemate puts his bike in the middle of the living room floor, I find that inordinately jarring, annoying and rude, but for me to refer to it as "genocide" would be incorrect." -Athxisor.wordpressXisor's Dice-o-matic Maiminator

After that I should be entering the world of 40k. I have Battle for Macragge less 2 marines (no idea), Betrayal at Calth, Dark Angels side of Dark Vengeance (with LE chaplain), the DW Raven Guard mini, an unbuilt captain, chaplain with jetpack and the Primus Medicae in terminator armour, Also got a crap load of Tyranids.

I've mainly been doing a bit of Ad Mech stuff this half-year, but the last few weeks I've read a big ol' pile of Inquisition and Deathwatch stories.

As such, I treated myself to a little dabble with the Start Collecting box for Deathwatch. (Also a squad of Custodes and Sisters of Silence.) And even a Sanguinary Priest to do up as a conversion.

I've only under-sprayed them so far, but have a vague thought for the wider set.

My thinking is something along this line:Sanguinary Priest: Techmarine with Xenophaseblade, ServoArm, grav-gunArtemis: unsure, but might try to give him the second XPB.Dreadnought: Guardian of the Covenant with Plasma Cannon & Storm Bolter

That leaves the regular marines themselves - I'm tempted to do a full four with Shotguns, two Frag Cannons, and the remainder bolter/sword pairings. I've a few spare chainswords about from a variety of kits, as well as the fancy bolters from the Sternguard kits, so it might be nice to keep them a bit "simple".

For keeping the theme, I'm really keen to have them all be continually non-First Founding. There's a good catalogue of 'known duplicates' of the shoulder pads on the sprues. The Imperial Fists and Raptors will probably get solid use, as there's plenty of overlap. The rest I might need to make serious judgements on!

Or, heaven forbid, get creative and invent new chapters!

---

Edit: inherent sexism alert klaxon - I also just remember a vague plan I was considering: converting up a Watch Master using one of the Guardian Spears off the Custodes frame.

... and one of the heads off the Sisters of Silence.

Which is to say: might as well 'lead by example'. There should be (and should always have been) women space marines. Simple kitbash is easy to do: so let's.

"When my housemate puts his bike in the middle of the living room floor, I find that inordinately jarring, annoying and rude, but for me to refer to it as "genocide" would be incorrect." -Athxisor.wordpressXisor's Dice-o-matic Maiminator

Introducing some new people to fill out the watch-station's roster, including a visitor from the Watcher Keep itself - the keep's commander: Watch Mistress Ithika Pyror! Also included are some old faces

I'm hoping to do my dreadnought shortly too, and it'll be something of a challenge as I hope to free-hand it as a Star Phantoms marine!

"When my housemate puts his bike in the middle of the living room floor, I find that inordinately jarring, annoying and rude, but for me to refer to it as "genocide" would be incorrect." -Athxisor.wordpressXisor's Dice-o-matic Maiminator

For what it's worth, the Start Collecting boxes are terribly nice value (these days) - compared to the two small kits, it's both of them, plus a venerable dreadnought and the 28mm Artemis model. It's a nice wee bundle, and as Deathwatch are fairly... personal, it's easy to foist a lot of significance onto them that you might not otherwise!

"When my housemate puts his bike in the middle of the living room floor, I find that inordinately jarring, annoying and rude, but for me to refer to it as "genocide" would be incorrect." -Athxisor.wordpressXisor's Dice-o-matic Maiminator

Almost there, got some Primaris reinforcements included too (though IMO they're just a bunch of Veterans with Stalker Bolters & swords).

Defenstratus Affine, Chapter: Warden of the Sundered Sword.

Gozza Krone, Chapter: Storm Giant.

Kal Fisch, Chapter: Imperial Laureate.

Bert Hotep, Chapter: Eternal Ember.

Esper Vonnex, Chapter: Red Wolf.

Xiomara Labidi, Chapter: Iron Fist.

Zahra Hamiltonian, Chapter: Necropolis Hawk.

Meherzia Jennik, Chapter: Heir of the Blood of the Throne.

Isatou Torr, Chapter: Skull Bearer.

"When my housemate puts his bike in the middle of the living room floor, I find that inordinately jarring, annoying and rude, but for me to refer to it as "genocide" would be incorrect." -Athxisor.wordpressXisor's Dice-o-matic Maiminator

My free-hand is categorically atrocious, but the Star Phantoms logo is bloody intricate, so there was absolutely no danger of it looking especially good. 'Good if you've terrible eyesight and it is dark and maybe you have had too much to drink' was always going to be the best I could hope for!

"When my housemate puts his bike in the middle of the living room floor, I find that inordinately jarring, annoying and rude, but for me to refer to it as "genocide" would be incorrect." -Athxisor.wordpressXisor's Dice-o-matic Maiminator

"When my housemate puts his bike in the middle of the living room floor, I find that inordinately jarring, annoying and rude, but for me to refer to it as "genocide" would be incorrect." -Athxisor.wordpressXisor's Dice-o-matic Maiminator

Oh no, it's nine people coming to get you! Seven of whom are very physically disabled, not to mention any neurodiverse excursions.

To whit, very much WIP, but nevertheless...

Here comes OX Kill Team EmeritusOperating at the behest of the Ordo Xenos, it's only a nine-person team.It operates through the auspices of the Ordo Xenos under the acclaimed Alien Hunter: Inquisitor Vincenzi Annan. Annan's throne incorporates a dedicated weapons-servitor allotment, as well as space facilities for an attendant acolyte - in this instance Curator Bernicia Jiande, formerly of the Logis Strategos.In direct command of the adepts from Watcher Keep's Bolthole Station is epistolarian Auditor Maelle Gerund, Eagle Warrior.Supervising their deployment is the Mechanist-Procurator (techmarine) Una Sasidharan, originally of the Death Strike chapter.Breacher, siege, and zone mortalis specialisms are overseen by Invigilator Izarra Starheart, the last known survivor of the Fire Hawks chapter.Izarra's left hand (and Fire Hawk emblem bearing arm) wields a standard dreadnought combat weapon with heavy-flamer attachment.Izarra's right (bearing Deathwatch iconography) features a breaching seismic-hammer (also with heavy flamer attachment), as well as additional combat systems in the form of the forward assault launchers, and dorsal hunter-killer missile racks.Entombed within Bolthole Station's eldest dreadnought chassis is Invigilator Budi Figal, Guardian of the Covenant.Invigilator Figal wields a multi-meta (though travels with the spare relic-armament: an ancient pattern of assault cannon), with a combat weapon bearing an integrated storm bolter.The penultimate addition, an all-round Deathwatch operative, is Invigilator Neen Roten, Star Phantom.The final killteam operative is Invigilator Ygga Glorr, Bone Wolf.Invigilator Glorr operates with a famously unorthodox armament - dreadnought-grades of axe and shield - having found solace in the symbolism of the Fenrisian-pattern relic mounts held deep within Bolthole Station's armoury.Kill Team Emeritus ready to strike at the alien.

And there you have it. Still very WIP, but the Killteam is coming along rather nicely indeed.

There's even some bonus material, in the form of some rehabilitated other models.

"When my housemate puts his bike in the middle of the living room floor, I find that inordinately jarring, annoying and rude, but for me to refer to it as "genocide" would be incorrect." -Athxisor.wordpressXisor's Dice-o-matic Maiminator